BEIRUT, June 30 (Reuters) - Syrian government forces pushed their way into Douma on Saturday after weeks of siege and shelling, and fleeing residents spoke of corpses in the streets
of the town near the capital Damascus.

The residents said hundreds of people were fleeing the town as government forces swept the streets in search of rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

They reported many bodies buried under the rubble of houses in the town of half a million people, 15 km (10 miles) from Damascus.

BEIRUT — At least 83 people were killed, mostly civilians, in violence across Syria on Saturday, and hundreds more were trapped in Douma as regime forces stormed the town in Damascus province, monitors said.

In the single most serious incident, mortar fire killed 30 civilians who were attending a funeral in the town of Zamalka, 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights said.

The Observatory did not give any further details on the Zamalka incident but published two videos from people on the ground.

The first showed several dozen people, mostly men waving Syrian revolutionary flags and shouting slogans as they accompanied the funeral cortege, when the picture was interrupted by an explosion.

The second, which could not be confirmed as being shot at the same scene, showed people running away from a cloud of dust that gradually dissipated to show numerous bodies lying on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Observatory urged the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to "urgently send medical teams" to Douma.

"The security forces have seized control of the main hospital in Douma," the Observatory said. "There are no doctors in the town, though dozens of wounded need urgent care."

The Setup: UNSMIS was in Douma May 24th "opening dialogue with opposition"

A team of UN observers visited Douma, an opposition-controlled city 10kms north-west of Damascus, to initiate dialogue with opposition activists on the ground. This is first meeting of its kind in Douma. The purpose: to assist with mediation whenever possible and establish bridges to help build the space for a political process on the basis of Joint Special Envoy Kofi Anan's six-point peace plan.
"We want to get your guidance on all the priorities that we have to address," explained Martin Griffith, Deputy Head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) to the opposition.

Things don't look the same in Douma these days. How soon will the UNSMIS be back in Douma to see if their last visit did any good?

As I reported here, Assad's killing spree in Douma has been going on since Wednesday. In the wake of the UN's decision in Geneva to do nothing, he is quickening the pace of the killing. This is what happened to one family two days ago.

After days of Syrian Army attacks, antigovernment activists reported heavy civilian casualties in Douma, a rebellious suburb of Damascus, including the gruesome killing of many members of a single family on Thursday. "One of the members was filming the army from the balcony of his building," said an activist reached by phone. The army, noticing the videographer, stormed into the building and shot to death the entire Tohme family, including children as young as 4 years old, the activist said.

Assad's soldiers on their way to clear the "terrorists" out of Douma - Uploaded 6/30/2012

Syria | Douma | Victim Dies From His Wounds as Residents Try and Fail to Get a Doctor

The victim Khaled Al-Ghazzawi, in the throes of death, appears in this footage uttering his last prayer and asking his friends to forgive him. His friends attempted to get him to a doctor but could not due to the continual shelling. Douma, Saturday, June 30, 2012